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*PREMIUM LISTING (viewable by non-subscribers) – Verra is looking for a Senior Program Officer to support its work to foster climate impact and generate related environmental and social benefits in the agriculture sector through our VCS Program and other emerging standards, tools and programs.

A charge on electric cars is ‘completely incongruent’ with states’ targets of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, Dr Jake Whitehead says

Victoria’s planned road user tax for electric vehicles will significantly hold back clean car use, according to research that found it could lead to a 25% lower share of sales in 2050 than otherwise expected.

The Andrews government plans to impose a 2.5c a kilometre charge on electric vehicles (EVs) and a 2c/km charge on plug-in hybrid cars from July. South Australia is also planning an EV road user charge, but is yet to announce the rate.

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A Colorado-based company announced a new service this week for consumers to buy voluntary carbon credits to offset their own emissions or those of others, with the initial product offerings coming from a handful of forestry projects.

Tesco, Lidl, Asda, McDonald’s and Nando’s all source chicken fed on soya from Cerrado tropical biome region

• How can we stop using soya linked to deforestation?
• The Cerrado: how Brazil’s vital ‘water tank’ went from forest to fields for soya

Supermarkets and fast food outlets are selling chicken fed on imported soya linked to thousands of forest fires and at least 300 sq miles (800 sq km) of tree clearance in the Brazilian Cerrado, a joint cross-border investigation has revealed.

Tesco, Lidl, Asda, McDonald’s, Nando’s and other high street retailers all source chicken fed on soya supplied by trading behemoth Cargill, the US’s second largest private company. The combination of minimal protection for the Cerrado – a globally important carbon sink and wildlife habitat – with an opaque supply chain and confusing labelling systems, means that shoppers may be inadvertently contributing to its destruction.

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EUAs neared €28 on Wednesday to continue this week's upward move as wider financial markets rose on prospects for a smooth US presidential transition and COVID-19 vaccine progress, while data showed investors continued to pile into the EU ETS ahead of the looming supply drought.

EU delegations have begun work on the conclusions of a key EU summit on Dec. 10-11 where the 27-nation bloc’s leaders could agree a higher 2030 GHG reductions target, although some hurdles remain.

However independent review criticises World Wildlife Fund’s inconsistent approach to human rights

A long-awaited report into allegations that conservation rangers supported by the World Wildlife Fund committed violent abuses in several countries, including murder, has cleared the organisation’s staff of complicity but criticised it for serious shortcomings in oversight.

But even as the report was released, campaigners for tribal rights – including Survival International, which has long been a critic of WWF – suggested the report had failed to investigate some of the most serious issues and that it had been released two days before the US Thanksgiving holiday in an attempt to bury the news.

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Nasa has stacked the first pieces of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria is one of the greatest threats to public health. The bacteria are so pervasive, they're spilling over to penguins, sea lions, wallabies and more. Michelle Power, Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

While state governments are basked in praise for ambitious clean energy policies, a flurry of fossil fuel projects quietly get the green light.

The post Fracking hell: Gas and coal projects march on across Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Kea Energy has begun construction of the largest utility solar plant in New Zealand, with the 2.5MW plant situated in Marlborough.

The post New Zealand’s largest utility solar power plant transacted using Bitcoin Kea appeared first on RenewEconomy.

It has fallen to the states to lead with more realistic targets, strategies and attempted policy responses

A colleague commented to me recently: “Where would we be without the states leading and driving the response to Covid-19?”

It made me think. To cut through all the spin, point-scoring and blame-shifting. Sure, there was the national cabinet and Scott Morrison’s attempt to forge a national, collaborative response, but so much of the heavy lifting was actually done by the states.

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Voluntary cancellations of Australian carbon credits in Q3 was 63% higher than in the same period last year, though numbers remain modest amid competition from international units and renewable energy credits.

CER says that rooftop solar installs on track to set new records in 2020, and large-scale market has survived a Covid investment blip.

The post Renewables sector rides through pandemic, rooftop solar market stronger than ever appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia reaches highest position ever on EY Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index, boosted to third place by green hydrogen and solar export plans.

The post Green hydrogen export potential lifts Australia to No. 3 on global renewables index appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The railways in the UK, Australia and India getting power from the sun in different ways.

The key to managing the booming installations of rooftop solar, battery storage and EVs is find out what lies behind the meter in South Australian homes.

The post How to control solar, batteries and EVs: First, find out where they are located appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Ninety-seven whales died and dozens more had to be euthanised by rescue workers

A mass stranding on the far-flung Chatham Islands in the Pacific Ocean has resulted in the deaths of more than 120 whales.

Ninety-seven pilot whales and three dolphins have died in the stranding, with 28 pilot whales and three dolphins having to be euthanised, said staff from New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DoC).

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The string of new battery storage projects - bigger and smarter and multi-faceted - is eroding the case for gas.

The post Big batteries are getting bigger and smarter, and doing things fossil fuels can’t do appeared first on RenewEconomy.

American aerospace and advanced giant installs first commercial variant of its redox flow battery designed for long-duration, large-capacity storage. 

The post Lockheed Martin begins testing long duration redox flow battery appeared first on RenewEconomy.